"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become prey to the active. The conditions upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime, and the punishment of his guilt." ~ John Philpot Curran

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Columns by Retta Fontana

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I love to see a young man follow his heart, especially when it is for such a noble concept like freedom. It takes courage and tenacity. So few people do it these days.
I met Cameron Barr back in Detroit a few years ago at the Statist Recovery House, one of my favorite haunts. He impressed me as a good, intelligent young man who was thoroughly disgusted...

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What to do when someone you love is hopelessly embedded in the political system?
You meet someone. You’re very attracted to them. They may be intelligent, kind, good-looking, considerate, funny, generous--maybe even health conscious. They may owns firearms--a huge plus in my book and I’m guessing for a lot of STR readers as well. Like most...

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This recent Netflix release was an engaging, thought-provoking journey of reckless youth against a backdrop of breathtaking beauty. The cinematography is also excellent. Even a Western scene with run-down motor homes selling flea market junk, complete with trash lying around has such blindingly bright sunlight that the contrast is visually intriguing. The...

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Early humans were as free as anything imaginable. They learned that living in loose bands and tribes provided some warmth and protection against predators and the elements. As long as they didn’t violate someone else’s space or challenge a stronger person for any possession, every living thing was free to roam. It was the unquestioned norm -...

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For the uninitiated, Airbnb.com is an online network for connecting people who have spaces in their homes, apartments, or castles to rent out temporarily and travelers who are looking for accommodations. Airbnb is secure and worldwide, although obviously more available in some places than others. It is an idea whose time has come. Here are my top ten...

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“What do we want?” “Freedom!”
“When are we taking it?” “Now!”
After a lengthy sabbatical, it’s great to be back at the keyboard! I’ve been through seven lean years of transition. (Hopefully to be followed by seven fat ones.) During my sabbatical from writing, I pushed a pencil, sold...

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My brilliant daughter scored 4.0 in her science classes in college! I'm feeling so happy and proud. This, however, is not about grades. It's about transformation.
When she was a small child in school, she often seemed anxious. For a long time it was worry over what to be when she grew up. Telling her that she could be anything she wanted...

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I can see that you are a good, caring person; your social conscience requires you to be concerned about your own welfare and the needs of others. Problems arise when you refuse to embrace logic, open your own wallet or soil your hands to help the needy, but insist that someone else pay to 'take care of everyone.'
It doesn't seem to matter to you that most dollars earmarked '...

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December 28, 2007
As occasionally happens, dear reader, this column wrote itself. It has been nagging at me for a while now. Inspiration for it comes from no less than the great Stevie Wonder. It seems clear to me that he wrote this song to question authority. For your listening pleasure, click here. Best regards for a free and prosperous 2008.

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December 14, 2007
I reported to you in a previous column some time ago, dear reader, about my unexpected conversation with Christine Smith, a candidate for the Libertarian Party nomination for President. I received a response from Smith expressing pleasure at the coverage, which really surprised me.

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November 5, 2007
I know what you're asking yourself. 'To what particular sham does she refer?' I realize I will have to narrow it down for thinking people. I am referring, dear reader, to the particular sham of the War on Drugs.

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October 12, 2007
I spend a lot of time wondering how our nation has become lazy, stupid and completely dependent on the talking heads of government and their toadies in the press to navigate life. As is my nature, I've been searching for a practical solution to this problem.

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September 5, 2007
Anarchists abhor the initiation of force to achieve social goals. Much is said against it and rightfully so. Railing against tyranny is surely easy to do. As government grows ever larger and more intrusive, the supply of fuel for that fire is unlimited. However, little is said in regards to what does work in problem solving for groups of people working together...

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August 21, 2007
Yahoo's headline today read, 'Bush War Advisor Says Draft Worth a Look.' It seems like just yesterday that the Decider in Chief, George W. Bush, was denying that there is a need or an interest in a military draft. For something that is not on the table, there is certainly a lot of chatter about it.

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July 30, 2007
I know what you are thinking, dear reader. Where are parts II through XXX of the delusions under which the masses operate? This is not an exhaustive list, just an exasperating one. I'd love to hear your responses. You might need another cup of coffee for this list, but it will only hurt for a little while. That's it - now sit back and keep breathing.
Delusion #13

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We moved lock, stock and barrel yesterday. Today I woke up one sore puppy and, for some reason, thinking about the Clintons and their media-saturated daughter, which made me feel even worse. However, I often get inspiration for writing in the hazy moments between sleeping and waking, so I knew not to resist this, no matter how unpleasant such thoughts were.
Politicians are the...

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Previously, in The Real McCoy, I expounded the benefits of consuming raw milk. In Raw Milk Is Not Crack, I reported the true misadventures of my local farmer. Richard Hebron sadly came into the crosshairs of the Michigan FDA for peacefully supplying raw milk to cow share owners who willingly purchased it. I'm happy to report some good news, for a change, and that's besides...

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June 7, 2007
Like my fellow anarchists, I bristle at the notion of the coercive state. But there is no state, really, just people. So in my quiet, reflective moments, I must ask myself whether or not I am doing better than the average untamed bureaucrat. Do I resist using the power over others that is available for the taking in my relationships, especially parenting? It is...

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May 31, 2007
'I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.' ~ Thomas Jefferson.

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May 10, 2007
Jolly old St. Nicholas, lean your ear this way. Don't you tell a single soul what I'm going to say. Christmas Eve is coming soon; now you dear old man, whisper what you'll bring to me; tell me if you can.

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April 25, 2007
'Idiocracy' is a film that was released in 2006 to little fanfare. In it, Joe 'average' is put into a hibernated sleep in a military experiment. (They wanted to 'freeze' a woman too, but couldn't find one of average intelligence within the military.) Due to a bit of government oversight, Joe wakes up--not one year later, but 500 years later. He finds the world...

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I got a phone call this morning from a passionate woman asking for my husband. He wasn't at home, so she decided to feel me out instead. Now, there's something that doesn't happen everyday!
Christine Smith is seeking the Libertarian Party's nomination for President. She's been invited to attend the Libertarian Party of Michigan convention and she's looking for financial...

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Angelo Mike's writing always inspires me. His latest column on jury 'dooty' is no different. When reading it, I immediately sensed the creepy coercion inherent in government and the good citizens who worship it. The feelings of revulsion I get from government are worse than ones I get from seeing a snake slither, an adult abusing a child, or gory road kill, perhaps because it...

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March 26, 2007
I once had a cousin named Jackie. She was a beautiful, divorced mother of three who was murdered by a stalker when she attempted to escape the relationship. I know this horror first hand. I tell you today that the relationship between good citizens and their masters in Washington is nothing short of the same, victimizing, violent, delusional, deadly disaster.

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March 12, 2007
On September 12 of 2001, my college instructor said she needed to take a moment to say how bad she felt about the previous day's terrorist attack. She asked if anyone else in the class had anything they needed to say about the US being attacked because of our wealth and freedoms. As usual, after 12 years in government schools, no one in class responded. They've...

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March 7, 2007
Thanks to Angelo Mike for the stark reminder of how ugly statism really is. It's terribly useful to read the firsthand account of someone who loves liberty yet ventures into the very belly of the beast, Washington D.C. We can all use a reminder of the actual horror of reality from time to time. Thanks for sharing your experience of falling on the sword with this...

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March 2, 2007
Reason #10: Anarchists are selfish capitalists.
The desire for money is the root of all business. Anarchists look out for their own best interests and can thereby only benefit mankind, because unless they are offering us what we want, in a business sense, at a price we are willing to pay, they cannot get what it is they want ' money. This is a good, beautiful...

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February 20, 2007
A surprise, well-armed SWAT team visit in the middle of the night can be a very eye opening experience. It happens a lot, but since it doesn't happen to all of us, we cannot hope that all our friends and neighbors will be dosed with reality this way in order to alert them to the erosion of liberty in America today. There is another way. I'd like to...

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February 7, 2007
After reading Jim Amrhein's article 'Alpha Dog' in 'Whiskey and Gunpowder' and Glen Allport's 'Womb, Birth, Infancy and Childhood,' I've been doing a lot of thinking about children in our culture.

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'Here's your coffee, sir, have nice day. Oh, and by the way, how many Iraqis did you kill when you were over there?' 'Uh, only a few. I was on guard duty most of the time.' 'Good job! Now, does that include women and children, or don't they really count?'
Death Due to Religion
Why is the American genocide in the Middle East considered a good and noble endeavor simply...

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December 26, 2006
I don't think anyone can deny that today there is a tremendous initiation of force being exerted by government at all levels in almost all nations. Some people, probably most, don't recognize it for the evil that it is. They'd say government and its cloaked coercion is 'for our own good,' but if pressed, most would at least agree that it is present.

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December 4, 2006
I don't know how things work in the other 49 states, but here in southeast Michigan there has spontaneously emerged from chaos a number of orderly, beautiful, free solutions to problems. As Detroit has often earned itself the title of 'Murder Capital, USA ,' it stands to reason that if order can emerge from chaos here, it can happen anywhere.
Our Blossoms

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November 3, 2006
Several years ago a friend invited me to have a drink. It was wonderful, like nothing I had ever tasted. I wanted more. I needed more. That one taste started me on a journey of research and wellness. Where could I get some of my own?!

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October 17, 2006
When I was a kid, life was simpler on every level.
If you did something stupid, you got hurt, and you learned not to do it again, or to try a better way. No one that I knew ever fell out of a tree or put their eye out. We had a basic survival instinct and some personal freedom, which I treasured.

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September 25, 2006
Tyranny, like pornography, can be difficult to describe, but as the saying goes, 'you know it when you see it.' It increases your breathing and heart rate and gets your attention whether you like it or not.

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September 15, 2006
I have dear friends whom I have taken to divesting of their ignorance about the economic state of the nation. They find the information overwhelming on its face. I thought I'd write it down in what I hope is an orderly fashion and share it with you too, dear reader. This way it can be examined and digested in whole or in part, depending on your tolerance for...

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August 29, 2006
'We have rights, as individuals, to give as much of our own money as we please to charity; but as members of Congress we have no right so to appropriate a dollar of public money.' ~ statesman and patriot Daniel Webster

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August 16, 2006
It's easy for freedom lovers to get discouraged these days. The news coming at us is almost always bad. The Leviathan that is government is a heaving behemoth that, like 'the blob that ate Chicago ,' is totally out of control. The police state expands its own powers and territory at every turn, and its design is to control us, to intimidate us into submission,...

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Mainstream news had always left me feeling unsatisfied. It was like smelling barbeque and being fed a rice cake. I was still hungry. I just knew there was something in the air, but I couldn't sink my teeth into it.

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Contenders for this dubious award are from Friday, June 16th 2006 , but they could be from any politico pie hole, on any given day.
In one corner we have this featherweight champion: 'U.S. inflation may be worse than what is showing up in government data. Since 1913, the U.S. Dollar has lost 95% of its purchasing power. We have yet to hear the government say so, or admit...

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"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.'
The administration of George W. Bush is purportedly based on Christian principles. It would seem logical then to assume that were Christ actually alive today, he would likely advance successfully in this administration, would it not?
Would Jesus have made a good bureaucrat?

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When I was young and in the process of forming my perception of the world, like most children, my exposure to ideas was limited. My parents, my teachers, my neighbor's opinions expressed through their children, and what little I may have heard on the news basically defined it. My parents were dyed-in-the-wool Democrats, my teachers were Catholic nuns, and my neighbors were...

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In the early '80's my brother-in-law Kevin took an economics course at George Mason University . His professor, Dr. Walter E. Williams, informed the class that the US dollar was no longer backed by gold or anything else. Kevin didn't believe it, so his prof told him to go and find out for himself. He did. It was the 'blue pill' for Kevin, and Kansas went bye-bye.

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My brilliant daughter scored 4.0 in her science classes in college! I'm feeling so happy and proud. This, however, is not about grades. It's about transformation.
When she was a small child in school, she often seemed anxious. For a long time it was worry over what to be when she grew up. Telling her that she could be anything she wanted...

Column by Retta Fontana.
Exclusive to STR
For the uninitiated, Airbnb.com is an online network for connecting people who have spaces in their homes, apartments, or castles to rent out temporarily and travelers who are looking for accommodations. Airbnb is secure and worldwide, although obviously more available in some places than others. It is an idea whose time has come. Here are my top ten...

Column by Retta Fontana.
Exclusive to STR
This recent Netflix release was an engaging, thought-provoking journey of reckless youth against a backdrop of breathtaking beauty. The cinematography is also excellent. Even a Western scene with run-down motor homes selling flea market junk, complete with trash lying around has such blindingly bright sunlight that the contrast is visually intriguing. The...

Column by Retta Fontana.
Exclusive to STR
What to do when someone you love is hopelessly embedded in the political system?
You meet someone. You’re very attracted to them. They may be intelligent, kind, good-looking, considerate, funny, generous--maybe even health conscious. They may owns firearms--a huge plus in my book and I’m guessing for a lot of STR readers as well. Like most...

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March 12, 2007
On September 12 of 2001, my college instructor said she needed to take a moment to say how bad she felt about the previous day's terrorist attack. She asked if anyone else in the class had anything they needed to say about the US being attacked because of our wealth and freedoms. As usual, after 12 years in government schools, no one in class responded. They've...